Scripture:
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Luke 13:10-17
This week I described Jeremiah and Jesus as both being spiritual but not religious. Or, at least I explained that they did not let their religion get in the way of their spirituality. Beliefnet.com states that more than one fifth of Americans describe themselves as spiritual but not religious.
I believe this means that folks feel a deep spiritual hunger, or at least they feel as if there is something deeper to life than the day to day rat race. They sense a deeper connection to other people, all of creation, and perhaps to a higher (or deeper or wider) power that some people might name as God. Spiritual people understand life as living a question. What are we here for? or What is this life all about.
Religion provides structures and frameworks within which we ask the big questions as a community. However, we can sometimes get things backwards. Sometimes we let our structures and frameworks become more important than the hunger and questions themselves. This is the kind of behavior that turns people away from organized religion and towards a more open spiritual exploration.
In Jeremiah's call story, God knew Jeremiah even before Jeremiah was born. This is not a relationship that is dependent on religious structures. God knows each one of us before we are born. We don't need religion to come to that understanding.
In the passage from Luke, Jesus is being criticized by the religious authorities for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus heals a woman who has been crippled for 18 years. He states that she is more important than the religious laws that say not to work on the day of rest. Jesus places the spiritual connection between people as a priority over religious law.
If the church is going to be able to reach people in this spiritual age (I believe it is indeed a time when folks are spiritually hungry and seeking), then we must be willing to lay aside our religious structures when they stand in the way of spiritual connection with God and others.
I believe this means that folks feel a deep spiritual hunger, or at least they feel as if there is something deeper to life than the day to day rat race. They sense a deeper connection to other people, all of creation, and perhaps to a higher (or deeper or wider) power that some people might name as God. Spiritual people understand life as living a question. What are we here for? or What is this life all about.
Religion provides structures and frameworks within which we ask the big questions as a community. However, we can sometimes get things backwards. Sometimes we let our structures and frameworks become more important than the hunger and questions themselves. This is the kind of behavior that turns people away from organized religion and towards a more open spiritual exploration.
In Jeremiah's call story, God knew Jeremiah even before Jeremiah was born. This is not a relationship that is dependent on religious structures. God knows each one of us before we are born. We don't need religion to come to that understanding.
In the passage from Luke, Jesus is being criticized by the religious authorities for healing on the Sabbath. Jesus heals a woman who has been crippled for 18 years. He states that she is more important than the religious laws that say not to work on the day of rest. Jesus places the spiritual connection between people as a priority over religious law.
If the church is going to be able to reach people in this spiritual age (I believe it is indeed a time when folks are spiritually hungry and seeking), then we must be willing to lay aside our religious structures when they stand in the way of spiritual connection with God and others.
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